U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth plans to create an Office of Religious Affairs within the Pentagon that will “strengthen the moral, ethical and spiritual readiness of our warfighters.”
Hegseth announced the new office Sept. 30 in a speech laden with aggressive language of lethality along with derision for those who don’t fit his vision of model military men.
“No fatties, no trannies, no beardos, no weirdos, no wimps, no radicals,” he said of the people he believes have no place in the military.
He accused members of the press of treason and praised the ill-fated war in Iran as a courageous operation “every red-blooded American is proud of.”
He also said at its founding, the United States rejected an earthly king and embraced a heavenly king instead.
The Office of Religious Affairs is one of six initiatives Hegseth announced in the speech. The others are creating an Autonomous Warfare Command, creating a new Corps of Cadets, launching the “FORTRESS” (Federal Operations for Resilience, Troop Resources, Energy, Supply, and Survivability) readiness program, initiating the Next Great American Base project, and kicks off a leadership program called Project Meridian.
A Pentagon news release says the Office of Religious Affairs will report directly to Hegseth and will be “charged with driving department-wide policy, resource advocacy and action. Wars are fought by people, and the strength of the force depends not only on weapons, training and technology, but also on the resilience, conviction, and moral strength of those who serve.”
Hegseth previously revamped military chaplaincy and hosts monthly evangelical worship services at the Pentagon.
The new office will “ensure every member of the force has voluntary, meaningful access to religious support and community that fosters purpose and resilience needed to endure hardship, deployment, combat and loss.” That’s essentially the description of what military chaplains do.
However, a more detailed memo about the new office decrees this: “Within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, the secretaries of the military departments, in coordination with their respective chiefs of chaplains, will submit to the director a comprehensive baseline report of all unfunded and underfunded religious affairs requirements, including, but not limited to, delivery of religious ministry, facilities and infrastructure, logistics, chaplain-led programs, chapel youth programs, faith-based homeschool support for military families, programs related to suicide reduction, and contracted services from faith-based non-federal entities; research, technology, and analytical tools to support spiritual fitness, spiritual readiness, and spiritual resilience; chaplain in-service procurement programs, chaplain and religious support team training and education.”
The new office will “align and, when necessary, issue policies concerning religious affairs on behalf of the secretary of war.”
Immediate reaction to Hegseth’s plan was primarily confusion, with questions about what he intends to accomplish. The language of the memo is vague and repetitive. Others, however, saw in this new office further evidence of Hegseth advancing Christian nationalism.
“The Department of Defense owes it to the nation’s service members to defend religious freedom as promised in our Constitution — a freedom they risk their lives protecting for all of us. Hegseth’s latest announcement violates that promise by elevating Christianity to an even higher role in shaping U.S. military policy,” said Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “For more than 250 years, the military and its chaplains have served the diverse religious and spiritual needs of all our service members. Hegseth’s new plan upends this to the detriment of all who serve.”
Combined with Hegseth’s previous actions advancing evangelical Christians, the new office is “yet another example of Hegseth abusing the power of his government position to impose his beliefs on others,” she added. “All of these actions combined with this latest announcement make clear that Hegseth is advancing a Christian nationalist agenda in the military. … We need a national recommitment to separate church and state. Our democracy depends on it, and our service members deserve it.”